"Get your dirty hands off Georgian Airways!" - Scandal over flights to Russia in Georgia
Statement of Georgian airline Georgian Airways
“Keep your dirty hands off Georgian Airways!” begins an official letter that the Georgian airline posted on its Facebook page on behalf of its employees.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to restore direct flights to Georgia and a visa-free policy for Georgian citizens, Georgian Airways decided to operate direct flights to Russia. Georgian Airways plans to sell tickets for the Tbilisi-Moscow flight starting May 20.
In it, Georgian Airways calls critical citizens “outsiders”, “scoundrels who will do anything for two pennies” and “comic nonentities” controlled by foreign countries.
The airline writes that it is not a political organization and the decision to resume flights was made by both countries.
The airline also writes that the restoration of flights is the desire of the people and the airline fulfills their order:
“We have served the interests of the Georgian people even in times of war, and we will serve them in times of peace.”
In the letter, the company reminds citizens that it participated in the hostilities in Abkhazia in 1992-93 and in South Ossetia in 2008 and was given state awards for selflessness.
“During the 2008 war, Georgian Airways was the only airline that did not stop flights and delivered hundreds of foreign journalists and politicians to Georgia, who showed the whole world the current tragedy of the Georgian people,” the letter says.
Georgian Airways blames the campaign against it on forces “sent from abroad”:
“Even with the naked eye it is clear that behind this dirty campaign there are forces that are ready to go against the interests of their own country and people in order to justify the grants received from abroad.
We appeal to provocateurs — do you consider this a betrayal of the motherland? However, judging by your statements, this is not surprising.
We say to the scoundrels of politics — we were not afraid of enemy artillery, tanks and military aircraft, and even more so we will not be afraid of your comic antics. Do not even think about any provocations against the airline, otherwise you will get the toughest answer provided by law.”
This statement by the airline also caused a lot of negative feedback. Facebook users were shocked by the text containing profanity. Some suggested that such text could not be official and the airline’s page might have been hacked. However, several hours have passed since the appearance of the text, but no comments were received from representatives of the airline.
Most of the more than 5,000 comments on Facebook are posts of anger and ridicule:
“I hope you go bankrupt, traitors!”
“Georgian Airways plane, fuck you.”
“What is this text? How dare you insult people? What kind of nonsense they wrote to you that you are spreading.”
“You traitors, when you mention Abkhazia and the August war, is it not a coincidence that Russia itself was the aggressor then?”
The first direct flight of the Georgian airline Georgian Airways to Moscow is due on May 20. On May 19, the Russian low-cost airline Azimut will make the first direct flight from Russia. Georgian Airways passengers will depart Tbilisi at 08:00 and land at Vnukovo Airport at 10:15 Moscow time.
A one-way ticket costs 897 lari [about $350].
Statement of Georgian airline Georgian Airways
